2025 McLaren F1 Team

[Macklaren]

Thank you for that comparison between PIA and LEC.

It is good to see how there is no "engine mode difference" when you compare PIA to LEC. I'm mentioning this because some commentators were saying that NOR was on higher engine mode because he was faster on the back straight. PIA trace shows that this is probably just an artifact of NOR running a smaller rear wing, so NOR gains on the straights but can't carry as much speed in the corner.

Didn't they have the same rear wing for FP2? NOR was clearly skinnier for FP1 though

[FittingMechanics]

Thank you for that comparison between PIA and LEC.

It is good to see how there is no "engine mode difference" when you compare PIA to LEC. I'm mentioning this because some commentators were saying that NOR was on higher engine mode because he was faster on the back straight. PIA trace shows that this is probably just an artifact of NOR running a smaller rear wing, so NOR gains on the straights but can't carry as much speed in the corner.

Didn't they have the same rear wing for FP2? NOR was clearly skinnier for FP1 though

Looking at F1-tempo you are probably right. Apologies for the confusion.

[Dafnalina]

So Norris had a higher engine mode than both Lec and Pia?

He seems a lot more pessimistic about the balance of the car, but he says it was the same in Bahrain. Let's hope it has some window for the setup and it's not RB 2.0. This is the first fully Rob Marshall car, and I'm kind of scared. Oscar said the car felt a lot different than last year's

[f1rules]

Toto Wolff: “McLaren is at the front. Then all the others come in line.”

[Macklaren]

So Norris had a higher engine mode than both Lec and Pia?

He seems a lot more pessimistic about the balance of the car, but he says it was the same in Bahrain. Let's hope it has some window for the setup and it's not RB 2.0. This is the first fully Rob Marshall car, and I'm kind of scared. Oscar said the car felt a lot different than last year's

He's def talking down expectations. Though it could be setup differences because of the weather as well. I expect McLaren to walk it in a normal race

[FittingMechanics]

So Norris had a higher engine mode than both Lec and Pia?

He seems a lot more pessimistic about the balance of the car, but he says it was the same in Bahrain. Let's hope it has some window for the setup and it's not RB 2.0. This is the first fully Rob Marshall car, and I'm kind of scared. Oscar said the car felt a lot different than last year's

I still expect pole tomorrow.

[SilviuAgo]

The DRS Delta disagrees with the top speeds. Was that top speeds on fastest lap? When looking at that data, we are only behind 4 teams on top speed.

Also for me was an inconsistence in the values and I put both sources to have the info. As you said, if we look at MCL39, we are not far behind as was the case usually on 2024 Fridays.

Regarding the size of the RW, I found an excellent post from our forum colleague Vanja, with McLaren continuing this weekend with bigger wing from the 2 options tested during Fp1.

[mwillems]

Nice, thank-you. We are indeed running the bigger wing and still doing well.

12 hours till we see how the car runs in anger. Toto think we're miles away, Marko thinks it's close and Lando thinks the car is a handful. All have reasons to exaggerate. We will soon know.

Just a shame FP3 is at 1am here, and Q in early morning.

[Darth-Piekus]

Unless this is the true pace of both competitors I hope Mclaren opens up the engine to full and take an emphatic front row lockout. I wont watch the qualifying or the race as its too early for me but in any case good luck to the team and may we have as good of a start of the season as possible.

[djos]

I was lucky enough to spend an hour in the pit lane last night, I took some pics of the McLaren garage you guys might like.

https://imgur.com/a/ByUCY7c

[Slahinki]

1 and 3 after the opening laps, not bad at all.

[Darth-Piekus]

Q1 ended and it's so close that just a tenth sends you 3 or 4 positions down. One Red Bull and one Mercedes out of Q2. We need both drivers to do 1.15.7 for an 1-2.

[mwillems]

Well that was close, until.it wasn't!

Great job by the boys.

No issues with the rear.

[Mostlyeels]

Smashed it in quali!

[Slahinki]

That's a 1-2! Excellent work by the team, Lando and Oscar. Our slowest car being 3 tenths up on third place is a good start to the qualifying record for the season.